Patient Safety | 03.04.20
Sonoma Doctor Fired, Accused of Prescribing Narcotics Excessively
by NAMSS Staff
The Press Democrat (02/25/20) Ernst, Anne Ward
In California, Sonoma Valley Hospital recently fired a long-time family physician accused of overprescribing dangerous drugs, including addictive painkillers blamed for the death of a patient in 2013. Dr. John Schafer, who was fired Jan. 29 for violating the hospital's standards for prescribing narcotics, had practiced medicine in Sonoma for almost six decades. "The reasons for their action was my not strictly adhering to their guideline for narcotic prescribing," Schafer wrote in a letter published in the Sonoma Index-Tribune. Schafer said the guideline is a clause in a 19-page accord between him and the hospital that limits the amount of opioids a physician can prescribe at any time. He went on to state that he disagrees with the guideline’s strict prescription limits. "They want you to just cut [patients] off," Schafer lamented, describing the practice as "inhumane."
Read the full story from The Press Democrat.